Mechanism for acetone sensing property of Pd-loaded SnO2 nanofibers prepared by electrospinning: Fermi-level effects

• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-015-8836-0
• Publication Date: 2016-10-03T19:35:16Z
• Authors: Wei Tang; Jing Wang; Qiao Qiao; Zhenghua Liu; Xiaogan Li
• Keywords: Electrospinning; Thermogravimetric analysis; Nanocrystalline material

Undoped and Pd-loaded SnO2 nanofibers with various Pd loading concentrations from 1.0 to 2.0 mol% had been synthesized by electrospinning with appropriate annealing process subsequently. The morphologies and nanocrystalline structures of the nanofibers were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis–differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and N2 physical adsorption. The sensing properties of undoped and Pd-loaded SnO2 nanofibers were compared. The gas sensing results showed that 1.5 mol% Pd-loaded SnO2 nanofibers got a best response to acetone at lower operating temperature of 275 °C among all the Pd-loaded SnO2 nanofibers. The enhanced acetone response of Pd-loaded SnO2 nanofibers may be correlated with the “Fermi-level effects” of Pd catalysts.